Improvement in body-loops for carriages



H. GUARD.

Carriag Loop No. 39.699. Patented Aug. 25, 1863;

i Witnesses: V Inventor: 5 19 133% h mflr mix UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GHAUNOEY H. GUARD, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO DAVID H. BURR, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BODY-LOOPS FOR CARRIAGES.

Specification forming pa t of Letters Patent No. 39,699, dated August 25, 1863; antedated August 19, 1863.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHAUNOEY H. GUARD, of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Attachment of Body- Iioops to the Spring-Bars of Carriages; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exact description of said improvement, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification,

and of which- Figure 1 represents a top view of the spring-bar of a carriage, with my improved body-loop attached thereto; Fig. 2, a side view of the same; Fig. 3, a vertical section thereof in the line y y of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 an end view of the bar with its attachments.

Similarletters indicate similar parts in all of the drawings.

In the ordinary and usual mode of connecting the bodies of carriages and other wheeled vehicles on springs with the running-gear thereof, the body is supported by means of a simple looped rod resting upon the upperside of the spring-bar and secured thereto by a bolt, which, passing vertically through the body-loop and the spring-bar, is fastened by a nut on the under side thereof. The disadvantages of this mode of fastening are many. Its most obvious and serious defect, perhaps, is its weakness, for the unprotected wooden bar is liable to split with the least shock or strain thereon, and the bolt, which must in such case necessarily be proportionally small, is constantly liable to snap or break with the least unusual jar, a danger increased by the inevitable shrinking of the wood, whereby the bolt is left loose in its bearings.

My invention obviates entirely these defects, and furnishes at onceanew, ornamental, perfectly secure, and easily adjusted mode of attachment, as will fully appear from the following detailed description thereof.

Myimproved body-loop consists of a rod, B, terminating in a trilateralbiangulate socket, U, which is made to clasp closely the top and sides of the spring-bar A, as represented in iheseveral drawings. The embracing sides a a of this socket 0 separate gradually as they descend, and the outer faces of their lower edges are beveled, as represented in Figs. 3 and 4.

In connection with the body-loop B and clasping-socket G, I use a metallic cap or clamp, D, and screw-bolt E. The clamp D is formed of the base-piece D and parallel beveled flanges b b, which are made to coincide with the beveled edge a a of the socket G, which they are made to embrace. The screw bolt Epasses through an aperture in the head of the socket, and centrally through the spring-bar A, and is screwed into the clamp D, as shown in Fig. 3.

In securing my improved body-loop B to the spring-bar of a carriage, the end of the bar is shaped slightly wider at the bottom than at the top, as represented in Figs. 3 and 4, so as to coincide with the outward inclination of the sides a a of the socket O. The bar thus shaped is placed within the socket O and the clamp or cap D fitted in its place upon the lower side of the bar, so as to em brace within its beveled flanges b I) the lower edges of the sides a a of the socket. The screw-bolt E is then introduced, and upon being' screwed into the clamp D firmly unites and binds the socket upon the bar.

By the new and peculiar arrangement and combination of these several parts of my improved body-loop, the compressing power of the screw E is made to act with great force, laterally as well as vertically, proc'lucing a compound pressure of great service and importance. This new invent-ion consists, first, in the peculiar shape of the spring-bar within the sockets, by which the upward pressure exerted by the screw E upon the clamping-plate D causes it to fit with the greatest possible nicety and tightness in the socket (I; second, in the arrangement of beveled faces or places by which the upward pressure upon the beveled edges 1) b of the clamp D reacts upon the beveled edges a 0b of the socket O as upon opposing wedges, and forces them inwardly with a pressure proportioned to that exerted by the screw upwardly, and thus nips the bar firmly and closely on either side.

Thus, whenever the bar shrinks from any cause, a slight turn of the screw-bolt will at once tighten the socket upon it in every direction.

A screw perforation may be made in the elampD for the reception of the screw-bolt E, as represented in the accompanying drawings, the head of the screw-bolt being made in such shape as to be acted upon by a wrench, or the screw-bolt may be made with a close flat head and secured by a nut beneath the c1ampas is the more usual mode of securing the same-the action of the screw upon the clamp and socket being in either case the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The use of a metallic biangulate clasping-socket O, in combination with a body-loop,

B, a metallic compressing-clamp, D, and a screw -bo1t, E, when arranged substantially in the manner herein set forth.

2. The arrangement of thebeveled faces of the lower edges of the sides a a, of the claspingsocket O, in combination with the beveled edges of the embracing-flanges b b of the clamp D, when said socket O and clamp 1) are combined with a screw-bolt, E, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

The above specification of my improved body-loop for carriages signed by me this 23d 7 day of September, 1862.

O. H. GUARD. Witnesses:

R. A. PARMENTER, F. J. PARMENTER. 

